Quilt As You Go, Simply Done

Simply Done

Marguerita

Gone to Quilt Market

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A few updates without pictures. It’s been rainy and windy here, the snow is gone and now most of the leaves are off the trees. The bear has moved on and the bunnies are back. I managed to get all the kits cut for our Take & Teach class and quilted up 250 teeny tiny little quilties (4″ x 4″ squares) and sashed them using the technique in our book. These are our “promo” items that we give out at Schoolhouse and yes, it takes some work, but it’s really, really worth it to see the looks on the faces of the quilters (shop owners & teachers) who receive them 🙂

Houston is a great town to visit and we always try and get around to the Museums, the Galleria and my personal favorite – Target (I’m a low budget girl!). I did buy some lipstick at a Galleria shop last year – that was exciting! LOL. This year we are going to stay downtown, something we’ve never done before, so I am looking forward to walking around in the area that the hotel is in.

I’m also looking forward to meeting up with my old pal Trish Stuart. I used to quilt for her and our brainstorming sessions are something I miss. I spent a few Markets working with Trish in her booth and it was a blast! I bought a video camera (!!) because I’ve been saving my pennies… I hope to shoot some quilty footage while at Market. Stay tuned! (oh, I forgot, but yes…I did fold and put the laundry away!)

Getting ready for Quilt Market

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This is what happens when I am working on quilts…..hehehehe….and I’m not even apologetic about it! Every load of washing (at least I’m washing the dirty clothes!) gets brought up to the living room and then left there. That’s why I have about 7 laundry baskets…this is a lifelong habit and it makes me laugh. When I am done with my current quilt project (or I run out of baskets) then I’ll start putting clothes away. Until then…..need clean socks? Go to living room and search baskets…….. LOL

Here’s some of my squares from this project….

Snow for Martha

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Compare this one to my photo of Mt. Marathon from the 4th of July! This is for Martha in Louisiana 🙂 This next one is of the trees across the alley, just outside the garage door. My bunny friends hang out there, but right now there’s a black bear living there (no kidding!). Bear has been getting into the garbage cans at night. Don’t worry about bunny, she’s tough and she’s faster than this black bear. I saw her last night & she’s fine. My portable quilting table is set up by a living room window that looks out over the alley and the trees next door. I’m going to try and get a pic of bear.

The sky is falling

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In thick white chunks! LOL Look at this poor Sitka Rose, still blooming in this early snowfall. Actually, this isn’t our first snow, it snowed yesterday but didn’t stick. Looks like it’s going to stay today…

250 Quilties

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…5″ square, give or take a quarter inch…. Sarah and I make these for Quilt Market, which we will be attending in less than a month. This year we will have a Take & Teach on Sunday morning as well as a few “in-booth” demos through the weekend and a Schoolhouse session on Thursday. Notice my blue foam quilting table? 🙂

I have enjoyed a wonderful fall weekend, full of sun, fabric and quilting, while Tom and his son have been building a shed for a friend. Tom is in his truck, answering a call and is son is inside the building…

Midarm Machine Quilting Class

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I teach quilting on a midarm machine whenever I can and at the Valdez Quilt Festival I was invited to teach this class twice. I really enjoy showing quilters why I love this system more than the longarm 🙂

I’ve owned both a longarm and midarm system and quilted on the home sewing machine as well, so I try to give the students a full perspective on all three but the class really is about using one of these new, quilt friendly, frame quilting machines. Here’s a pic from my Thursday class.

Crazy Shortcut Quilt Workshop at the Valdez Quilt Festival

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Whooooowheeeeee!! I had the time of my life!! Sarah and I taught the most fun class I’ve ever been in and the quilters went home with just an hour or two of stitching left to have finished and quilted quilts!

And guess what I found in Valdez? Rabbits! 🙂

I taught my class on using a midarm quilting system on Thursday and Sunday and on Friday & Saturday we did our shortcuts quilt as-you-go method.

The drive home was just lovely. It’s been years since we’ve driven to Valdez, a 425 mile trip for me from Seward, and we visited some familiar places and a few new ones too.
This is Tiekel River, at about mile marker 50 of the Richardson Highway. I have a few more photos on Flickr here and you are invited to take a look. There are photos of Worthington Glacier, the top of Thompson Pass (in the clouds, of course!) and a couple of the Wrangell-St. Elias mountains and last is one of Sarah touching the Alaska Pipeline at about mile marker 82 or so. We have the same photo from when she was about 9 or 10 years old 🙂

Next trip is to Houston, Texas, at the end of October and my thoughts are with the people of Texas as they struggle with the damage done by the hurricane.

Seward in August

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Some photos I’ve take recently. Tom came home briefly, bringing the jitney in. This photo was taken about about nine or nine thirty at night.

Earlier that same day a cruise ship left port. Notice the fireweed? The story goes that when the fireweed is done blooming, two weeks later it will snow.

Today the silver salmon must be jumping right off this side of the bay because the fishing boats moved over here, at the end of our street. In the distance are the lights of a tender coming in from Prince William Sound with pink salmon for the cannery.